Organisers have put together a programme – both traditional and modern – to amuse and entertain as well as honour the pioneers who launched the first A&P show in the town in 1917.

Among the traditional A&P events will be the livestock competition for beef and dairy cattle, with more modern events for alpaca and goats. There will be equestrian and wood chopping competitions and dog trials too. Entertaining the crowds will be Mike the Magician, Chelsea’s Dog Show, Circus in a Flash and the Wai Kato Drummers.
As if all that wasn’t enough to tempt the crowds, thanks to Your Travel Morrinsville and P&O Cruises, there is a gate prize of a four-day cruise for two aboard a P&O Liner.  
In the early days of the Morrinsville A&P Show, many patrons arrived on horseback and were charged six pence – roughly five cents – to tether their mounts inside the showgrounds.

School students enter their pet calves in the Morrinsville A&P Show.

Around the late-1920s motorcars began to appear in Morrinsville and for two shillings, a car could be driven in and parked on the recreation grounds on show day.
The show was originally held in paddocks where the town’s New World supermarket stands today. Around 1924, the decision was made to use the recently gazetted Morrinsville Recreation Grounds as the new location for the show.

The grounds were developed into an oval cycle-racing track, approximately where today’s swimming pool and cricket grounds are. There was a white picket fence all the way around and all of the main show jumping activities were held inside it.

A major sponsor of the early shows was Four Square, which donated many prizes and products for competitions that included quizzes on the show stage. Other early entertainment included appearances from Jack Maybury, who was known as ‘The Radio King of New Zealand’ in the 1940s-1950s.